The present invention generally relates to a countermeasure filling material for absorbing impact in a motor vehicle interior, particularly, in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to energy absorbing countermeasures for a motor vehicle.
In the event of a collision or impact, it is known to improve passenger safety by causing thrust to be exerted on the chest, abdomen, and/or pelvis of the passenger in a manner compatible with the passenger's anatomical characteristics. The object is to ensure that the contact between the passenger and the motor vehicle door does not occur at the level of passenger's trunk that constitutes a region weaker than that of the passenger's chest, abdomen, and/or pelvis.
For this purpose, it is known to fill the interior of the door, the interior of the door trim panel, or other interior component with a filling material tailored to the compression. In this way, upon impact, the deformation of the outer skin compresses the filling material. This compression is transmitted to the trim panel, which consequently has a tendency to penetrate the passenger compartment right at the start of deformation from the collision. The trim panel comes in contact with the passenger's chest, abdomen, and/or pelvis and exerts a thrust on the chest, abdomen, and/or pelvis.
In order to avoid injuring the passenger, the filling material must have a limited resistance to compression so that the resulting force is compatible with the resistance of the torso of a standard person. For example, this force must be less than the force exerted on the torso of a dummy as tolerated by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FUSS) 214, which relates to lateral shocks or side impacts.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed a major regulatory revision of FMVSS 214 concerning passenger impact protection. Manufacturers will also have to meet an additional performance test involving a 20-mph vehicle side impact into a rigid pole at an approach angle of 75 degrees. In NHTSA's opinion, the new pole test more accurately reflects real world side-impact collisions in which head injuries are prevalent. Other dangerous side-impact crashes often happen when a large vehicle strikes a smaller one at an intersection. NHTSA estimates a car passenger is 63.5 times more likely to die if the passenger's vehicle is struck by a pickup or SUV. A new, more technically advanced dummy representing an adult male of average height, and, for the first time, a dummy representing a small adult female (4′11″), would be used in side-impact performance testing. These new dummies will promote the development of head and thorax protection systems for a wider segment of the population.
This presents a problem because the filling material must have a limited resistance to compression so that the resulting force is compatible with the resistance of the torso of two different standards, namely, the adult male of average height and the small adult female.
The present invention is directed towards an energy absorbing countermeasure for motor vehicles that comprises a body having at least a first zone and a second zone. Each zone has at least one surface with recesses in the surface and portions between recesses. The portions are broken upon impact and enter into the recess to exhibit energy absorbing efficiency. Alternatively, the portions are merely configured to enter into the recesses upon impact. The recesses in the first zone are arranged or configured to absorb a first desired peak load during impact and the recesses in the second zone are arranged or configured to absorb a second desired peak load during impact. The first desired peak load is different from the second desired peak load.